This invention relates to a method and a device for printing films housed in cartridges.
A conventional device for printing images on a film onto printing paper has a scanner unit and a printing/exposure means arranged along a film feed unit for feeding films in a straight line. The scanner unit reads printing conditions such as image density from a film before printing it. Based on the data thus obtained, the light from a light source is adjusted with a light adjusting filter and the thus adjusted light is used to print film images onto printing paper.
To print films with this type of printers, films have to be pulled out of and detached from cartridges. The films are then fed into the film feed unit as it is or after splicing them in a roll form.
With the conventional device, while the scanner unit is reading image density and other printing data of one film, the printing/exposure unit cannot print another film. While the latter is printing one film, the former cannot read printing data of another film. In other words, these units cannot be driven concurrently, so that the processing speed was insufficient. In order to increase the processing speed, it was proposed to drive the above two units independently of each other and to provide a loop guide therebetween to adjust the film feed rate.
When printing developed films, they may be fed in strips or in a roll after separating them from cartridges. Otherwise, they may be processed without separating them from cartridges. But in order to process films without detaching them from cartridges, a separate driving unit is needed to unwind and rewind films from and into cartridges.
An object of this invention is to provide a method and device for printing films which can print one film in a printing/exposure unit while reading image data in a scanner unit by using a rotary table, which need no separate driving means for opening and closing doors of cartridges mounted on the rotary table and no wire connecting work.